NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
FLASH LIDAR Based Relative NavigationRelative navigation remains the most challenging part of spacecraft rendezvous and docking. In recent years, flash LIDARs, have been increasingly selected as the go-to sensors for proximity operations and docking. Flash LIDARS are generally lighter and require less power that scanning Lidars. Flash LIDARs do not have moving parts, and they are capable of tracking multiple targets as well as generating a 3D map of a given target. However, there are some significant drawbacks of Flash Lidars that must be resolved if their use is to be of long-term significance. Overcoming the challenges of Flash LIDARs for navigation-namely, low technology readiness level, lack of historical performance data, target identification, existence of false positives, and performance of vision processing algorithms as intermediaries between the raw sensor data and the Kalman filter-requires a world-class testing facility, such as the Lockheed Martin Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC). Ground-based testing is a critical step for maturing the next-generation flash LIDAR-based spacecraft relative navigation. This paper will focus on the tests of an integrated relative navigation system conducted at the SOSC in January 2014. The intent of the tests was to characterize and then improve the performance of relative navigation, while addressing many of the flash LIDAR challenges mentioned above. A section on navigation performance and future recommendation completes the discussion.
Document ID
20140013498
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Brazzel, Jack (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Clark, Fred (Draper (Charles Stark) Lab., Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
Milenkovic, Zoran (Draper (Charles Stark) Lab., Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
November 14, 2014
Publication Date
January 1, 2014
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-32220
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2015 IEEE Aerospace Conference
Location: Big Sky, Montana
Country: United States
Start Date: March 7, 2015
End Date: March 14, 2015
Sponsors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available